Bayern-PSG, 66e minute of play. On his right side, Joshua Kimmich is pressed like an orange by Vitinha and is forced to move back at the central circle. Not the move the most recommended in the history of football, but when you are Bayern, you can afford it. Obviously, the left-footed pass from the blond German is perfect: Bradley Barcola is too short to intercept, Kim Min-jae automatically takes a few steps back to welcome the leather as it should, when suddenly, a green mass emerges and intercepts the leather. As if falling from the sky, she perfectly breaks Lee Kang-in's pressing, then magnificently directs the play to the left on Kingsley Coman to finish with a little childish slide. “Oh, what is Neuer doing there, what is he doing! » exclaims Sidney Govou in the comments, who only has to contemplate in amazement the new winning initiative of the legendary German goalkeeper. Neuer, what. At 38 years old, the Bavarian Wall gave a new lesson of what a top-level goalkeeper should be in 2024: proactive, comfortable with both feet, serene on his line and above all, perhaps the most important point important, the ability to not suffer the game. Everything that PSG does not have, ultimately.
Donnarumma, Safonov and the goalkeeper ball under QSI
The morning after this new European disappointment, an unflattering statistic for the Parisian club emerged and hurt: Manuel Neuer completed more dribbles during the meeting (1) than Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaire-Emery and Fabian Ruiz together. A revealing scenario according to Jérôme Alonzo, PSG goalkeeper from 2001 to 2008, of the main problem of this team beyond the case of its gloved men: the lack of talent. “If it is indeed at the goalkeeper level that you most see the difference between Paris and the other big players in Europe, PSG suffers above all from a lack of overall talent, because the “franchise player” of PSG today today, it’s Ousmane Dembélé! Wow! Ah well there, yes okay, if you finish 20e of the Champions League group stage, that’s already good! » If it is natural to go on and on about Luis Enrique's choice to have started Safonov in place of Donnarumma, it will be necessary at a given moment to refocus the debate on where it should be played out: at what point will What is the assessment of the Parisian transfer window as a whole?
There was a time when the sea serpent of Thiago Motta's replacement was omnipresent, today it is the question of the number 9 which occupies spaces and minds, but, quite surprisingly, that of the goalkeeper has never seemed a real priority. Both in the choices and in the management of the position, what comes out through the eyes of Alonzo.
It is November 27, 2024, you have lost your two guardians for the fifth time in 10 years.
« Yesterday, I was watching Yann Sommer. He is one of the players who brought Inter back to the forefront, it's a brilliant recruitment. And the guy is 36 years old! You, the 36 year old guy, you had it, you released it to take Donnarumma. But don't come crying behind, he laments on the phone. You had Keylor Navas, referenced, 3 Champions Leagues under the belt, international, good locker room guy, good goalkeeper, no history, decent kicking game. PSG is a company that generates millions, even billions of euros, how can you tirelessly repeat the same mistakes and say “Yeah, that’s cool.” The management of goalkeepers under QSI is grotesque. To make it short: Sirigu, you like it or you don't like it, but hey, it was okay to launch the project. You put Trapp in his path, you lose both. Trapp-Areola, same. Shall we stop? No ! After Areola settles in, clack you put Buffon on her! You lose both. After Navas arrives, you say to yourself that that's it, they understand, you make the final and semi-final of the Champions League, you are calm. No, because at PSG, we are geniuses in the position, you take Donnarumma! So there, you lose both. And then after a season where he is rather good in the championship, you are going to look for Safonov this summer! It is November 27, 2024, you have lost your two guardians for the fifth time in 10 years. »
What if the future was… Knight?
On the only goal (gag) conceded by PSG at the Allianz Arena, another scenario calls out: that of the Parisian defensive feverishness which has persisted on set pieces for several months, but also more broadly of the defense in its totality. Beyond struggling to plant pawns, PSG is no longer as solid a team as before and above all gives the feeling of conceding more dangerous situations to its opponent when the level rises. « On the goal conceded by Safonov, we are talking about a collective fault, yes. But when you know that your guardians are bogus in the air… you're not at peace. It's the chicken and the egg: who causes what? asks Alonzo. If goalkeepers have been more exposed at PSG for several seasons, it's because your defense is weaker. And I'm going to go even further: it was much less so when Presnel Kimpembe was on the pitch. On set pieces for example, it started last March and Barcelona at the Parc. Since then, you've had problems against Dortmund twice, and then the whole start of the season. So I don't know how the staff works, but if we see it, they do too, that's for sure. »
If the results are not great at the moment, PSG is not out of the running at all levels either. He can still qualify for the rest of the C1 in the event of good results against Salzburg, a recovering Manchester City and Stuttgart without forgetting that he sits at the top of Ligue 1. But a question still hangs in the air: who will keep the Parisian goals from now on? Jérôme Alonzo has made his choice: for him, it must be Donnarumma.
I honestly think Donnarumma has a Safonov in each leg. I even think that Tenas is better than him, and yet he is third in the hierarchy.
“Safonov, for me, is an ultra-average goalkeeper and I sincerely think that Donnarumma has a Safonov in each leg. I even think that Tenas is better than him, and yet he is third in the hierarchy. Donnarumma is a great goalkeeper, he has everything to be the world number 1: the stature, the talent, the reflexes… Whoever tells you that he is bad, he doesn't understand anything, because you are not champion of Europe and captain of Italy if you suck. On the other hand, what is true is that he has regressed since his arrival in Paris in all areas, except kicking where he started from zero. And that's not normal. In my time, it was imperative to be a goalkeeper to show confidence, to be able to reassure your team when taking the ball at the 90e. Today, we want a libero who would almost be a good goalkeeper, while for me, you need an excellent goalkeeper who is not bad on his feet. Lucas Chevalier today is exceptional in the air, he is good on the feet, he represents the future. For what ? Because the future will always be in the aerial game. » The message has been sent: all that remains for PSG is to go all out next summer on Lucas Chevalier.
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Comments by JA collected by AC.
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